Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They share a common culture, language and history that is closely related to those of other Turkic peoples. The majority of ethnic Kazakhs live in their transcontinental nation state of Kazakhstan.
Ethnic Kazakh communities are present in Kazakhstan's border regions in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, northern Uzbekistan, northwestern China, western Mongolia, and northern Iran. The Kazakhs arose from the merging of various medieval tribes of Turkic and Mongolic origin in the 15th century.
Kazakh identity was shaped following the foundation of the Kazakh Khanate between 1456 and 1465, when following the disintegration of the Turkified state of Golden Horde, several tribes under the rule of the sultans Janibek and Kerei departed from the Khanate of Abu'l-Khayr Khan in hopes of forming a powerful khanate of their own.
The term Kazakh is used to refer to ethnic Kazakhs, while the term Kazakhstani refers to all citizens of Kazakhstan, regardless of ethnicity.
Etymology
The Kazakhs likely began using the name "Kazakh" during the 15th century. There are many theories on the origin of the word "Kazakh" or "Qazaq". Some speculate that it comes from the Turkic verb qaz or that it derives from the Proto-Turkic word *khasaq.Another theory on the origin of the word "Kazakh" is that it comes from the ancient Turkic word qazğaq, first mentioned on the 8th century Turkic monument of Uyuk-Turan. According to Turkic linguist Vasily Radlov and Orientalist Veniamin Yudin, the noun qazğaq derives from the same root as the verb qazğan. Therefore, qazğaq defines a type of person who wanders and seeks gain.
An alternative and historical ethnonym for Kazakhs is Alash. This name spreads a lot in Kazakh culture. Most commonly, Alash is the group of three jüzes, territorial and tribal divisions of Kazakhs. This word can be used as a synonym to Kazakh. The ethnonym "Alash" also was used to refer to Kazakhs by Nogais.
History
Throughout history, Kazakhstan has been home to many nomadic societies of the Eurasian Steppe, including the Sakas, the Xiongnu, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Kimek–Kipchak Confederation, the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde and the Kazakh Khanate, which was established in 1465.The exact place of origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion. Early Medieval Turkic peoples who migrated into Central Asia displayed genetic affinities with Ancient Northeast Asians, deriving around 62% of their ancestry from a gene pool maximized among Neolithic hunter-gatherers in the Amur region. There is also evidence for contact with Iranian, Uralic and Yeniseian peoples. The Kazakhs emerged as an ethno-linguistic group during the early 15th century from a confederation of several, mostly Turkic-speaking pastoral nomadic groups of Northern Central Asia. The Kazakhs are the most northerly of the Central Asian peoples, inhabiting a large expanse of territory in northern Central Asia and southern Siberia known as the Kazakh Steppe. The tribal groups formed a powerful confederation that grew wealthy on the trade passing through the steppe lands along the fabled Silk Road.
The modern Kazakhs form the most direct descendants of the Mongol Empire, along with the modern Mongols, and other Inner Asian nomadic empires.
Shoqan Walikhanov believed that when the Golden Horde began to disintegrate, the reasons why Kazakhs created Kazakh Khanate were in order to retain their nomadic territories and secure their rights in the lands where they migrated.
Kazakh was a common term throughout medieval Central Asia, generally with regard to individuals or groups who had taken or achieved independence from a figure of authority. Timur described his own youth without direct authority as his Qazaqliq.
In 15th-century Central Asia, the nomads of the Jochid Ulus, including those who founded the Kazakh Khanate, were collectively called Uzbeks due to their conversion to Islam under Özbeg Khan. These nomads, also called Tatars by the Russans and Ottomans arose from the merging of various tribes of Turkic and Mongol origin in the 13th and 14th centuries in the Qipchaq Steppe.
Modern Kazakhs are direct descendants of the Jochid Ulus. Seen from a broader perspective, the Kazakhs belonged to the Chinggisid uluses, others being the Shibanid Uzbeks, Crimean Tatars, Manghits/Noghays, and Chaghatays, who shared a common language, political ideology, royal lineage, ethnic identity, and religion, and who still dominated much of the vast region stretching from the Crimea in the west to the Tien Shan Mountains in the east, and from southern Siberia in the north to northern India in the south during the post-Mongol period.
At the time of conquest of Central Asia, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, a descendant of Shiban, had disagreements with the sultans Kerei and Janibek, descendants of Urus Khan. These disagreements probably resulted from the crushing defeat of Abu'l-Khayr Khan at the hands of the Oirats. Kerei and Janibek moved with a large following of nomads to the region of Zhetysu on the border of Moghulistan and set up new pastures there with the blessing of the Chagatayid khan of Moghulistan, Esen Buqa II, who hoped for a buffer zone of protection against the expansion of the Oirats.
The division into new ethno-political communities is reflected in the work of Ruzbihān Khān Isfahani, Mihmān-nāma-yi Bukhārā, which states:
During the late 15th and throughout the 16th century, the Kazakhs created a nomadic empire extending westward to the Ural River and eastward to the Tien Shan Mountains regarded as a formidable power and feared by their neighbors and reportedly able to bring up to 200,000 horsemen into the field.
During the reign of the three sons of Kasym Khan, the authority of the khan weakened somewhat, leading to the eventual fragmentation of the Kazakh Khanate into three distinct "hordes": the Great Horde in southeastern Kazakhstan north of the Tien Shan, the Middle Horde in the central steppe near the Aral Sea, and the Little Horde between the Aral Sea and the Ural River. In these regions, the khan's power was often constrained by tribal leaders, known as sultans, and even more so by the beys and batyrs, heads of the clan-based communities. Although the khans nominally commanded a formidable military, their authority relied heavily on the loyalty of these local leaders.
File:"Padishah of Dast-i Qipchaq". Tabriz or Qavin, circa 1550. British Museum, 1948-10-9-056.jpg|250px|thumb|Padishah of Dast-i Qipchaq,. Possible portrait of Kazakh khan.
The final son of Kasym Khan to rule, Haqnazar, overcame these challenges, reunited the three hordes, and expanded his power beyond the steppes. His reign was marked not only by the reunification of the Kazakh Khanate but also by his aggressive military campaigns, which included systematic raids into Transoxania. He brought under his control not only the Kazakh hordes but also the Bashkirs, Kyrgyzes and Nogais, as well as territories such as the Kazan, Siberian, and Astrakhan khanates, and cities like Bukhara, Khiva, and Tashkent. According to Rychkov, Haqnazar's reign was marked by a brutal consolidation of power, where he exploited the instability of neighboring peoples, imposed heavy tributes, and severely restricted their movements and resources. He limited them to a single cooking pot per three households, confiscated livestock, goods, and even children, and prohibited land ownership and movement across certain rivers. These actions rendered these peoples impoverished and submissive, but they also strengthened his dominion across the region.
His successors continued these military campaigns, including Tauekel Khan, who briefly captured Samarkand. However, by the early 17th century, the khanate's internal unity once again began to erode, and central power weakened further, leading to a period of fragmentation and the rise of numerous smaller, local rulers. After Tauke's death in 1715/1718, the Kazakh Khanate lost its unity, and the three hordes effectively became separate khanates.
During the 17th century, the Kazakhs fought the Oirats. The early 18th century marked the height of the Kazakh Khanate. During this time, the Little Horde took part in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungar Khanate, following the invasion known as the "Great Disaster." Under the leadership of Abul Khair Khan, the Kazakhs achieved notable victories at the Bulanty River in 1726 and at Añyraqai in 1729. Ablai Khan also played a major role in the wars against the Dzungars during the 1720s–1750s, for which he was honored as a "batyr" by the people. He later became the last khan whose power was recognized throughout the Kazakh steppe, ruling the Middle Zhuz between 1771 and 1781. In 1740, Ablai accepted Russian suzerainty, while at the same time maintaining a policy of balancing between the Russian Empire and the Qing dynasty, which for a period allowed the Kazakh Khanate to keep a degree of autonomy. After his death, his son Vali Khan abandoned an independent stance and acknowledged Russian suzerainty.
File:Бой сибирских казаков с инородцами.png|thumb|Russian Cossacks fighting Kazakhs during the Kenesary's Rebellion in 1837
In 1822, the khanate institution among the Kazakh hordes was formally abolished, which led to the uprising of Sultan Qasym in 1824–1827. The last serious effort to revive the khanate was undertaken by Sultan Kenesary Qasymov, whose resistance against Russian authorities began in 1837. He declared himself khan and, with varying success, led an armed struggle until his death in 1847.
Due to its incorporation into the Russian Empire, Kazakh intellectuals led a cultural renaissance that surpassed those of other Central Asian peoples. Russian schooling brought modern ideas to the steppe, and figures like Shoqan Walikhanov and Abay Kunanbayev adapted these ideas to the specific needs of Kazakh society, creating a secular culture unparalleled in other parts of Asian Russia.
In the wake of the Russian Revolution, the Alash Orda government was formed in 1917 as an attempt to secure Kazakh autonomy. Although it existed only in name, Alash Orda represented the Kazakh push for self-rule. The Bolshevik Red Army eventually defeated White Russian forces in the region by 1920, and Kazakhstan was incorporated into the Soviet Union.
Despite their nomadic lifestyle, the Kazakhs were one of the most literate indigenous groups in Central Asia, making them stand out in the region. But the Soviet government pursued a policy of forced collectivization, which devastated the Kazakh population. Between 1926 and 1939, Kazakhstan's population decreased by nearly one-fifth, with 1.5 million deaths from mostly starvation and related diseases, others as a result of violence. Thousands of Kazakhs fled to China, but most did not survive.
Kazakhstan became a full Soviet republic in 1936. The Virgin Lands Program, launched in the 1950s, opened northern Kazakhstan to wheat farming by Slavic settlers, the program that, over the course of several decades, led to an ecological disaster that severely impacted the Aral Sea. During the Soviet period, Kazakhstan's strategic importance grew, notably with the establishment of the Soviet space-launch center and nuclear testing sites on its territory. From 1959 to 1986, Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, dominated the region's politics. His pragmatic leadership balanced the interests of both Kazakhs and Russians. However, Kunayev's removal by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986 led to the first serious riots in the Soviet Union during the 1980s, signaling widespread discontent among the Kazakh population.
Kazakhstan declared sovereignty on October 25, 1990, and became fully independent on December 16, 1991, after the Soviet Union collapsed.